Futures soar on the promise of Ukraine peace talks

U.S. stock index futures rose on Monday as investors clung to hopes of Russia-Ukraine peace talks, with bank stocks higher ahead of a Federal Reserve policy meeting this week where it is widely expected to raise interest rates.

Most global stocks firmed, while safe-haven gold lost some of its charm as Ukraine said it would seek to discuss a ceasefire, immediate withdrawal of troops and security guarantees with Moscow.

Market watchers sounded a more cautious note as Russia continued bombardments and widened its assault on Sunday with an attack on a base near the border with NATO member Poland.

“We had talks last week as well, but they quickly fell apart. The conflict continues and thus, with regards to the broader market sentiment, we maintain the view that the risks remain tilted to the downside,” said Charalambos Pissouros, head of research at JFD.

Big banks gained as investors expect the Fed to announce the first rate increase since 2018 at its March 15-16 meeting to curb surging inflation.

Bank of America rose 2.3% in premarket trading, in line with the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield hitting 2.10%, its highest level since July 2019.

Data last week showed U.S. consumer prices grew at their fastest pace last month in 40 years, following a sharp rally in crude prices due to the Ukraine crisis.

Traders see a 91% chance of a 25-basis-point hike at the central bank meeting.

Shares of megacap growth companies Microsoft Corp and Google parent Alphabet Inc added more than 1% each.

Energy shares slipped with Occidental Petroleum down 5.4% as Brent crude fell below $110 a barrel, just a week after it scaled as much $139 in the wake of Western sanctions on Russian oil over its invasion of Ukraine.

At 6:23 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 340 points, or 1.03%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 36.75 points, or 0.87%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 87.75 points, or 0.66%.

The CBOE volatility index, also known as Wall Street’s fear gauge, inched lower but still remained stubbornly high over 30 points.

(Reporting by Devik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)